A feature often found within mobile devices is some manner for entering a passcode in order to enable a user to activate the mobile device to enable full access to its various functionalities. A passcode entry process involves activating a keypad display upon the mobile device, and the user entering a passcode on the temporarily activated display which is displaying a keypad showing the numbers or letters that may be selected for passcode entry.
One problem with this type of passcode entry is that the display screen on which a user enters their passcode will often exhibit finger smudges or fingerprints due to the repeated entry of the passcode when the keypad is displayed in a constant position configuration. This would enable unauthorized third-party users the ability to merely press the numbers under the various finger smudges that are upon the display in order to obtain access to the mobile device.
One existing solution to this problem has involved the randomization of the keypad, such that the position of the digits or letters within a keypad are randomized and placed in different location after each passcode entry upon the mobile device. While this solution is useful for presenting access of the mobile device due to the viewing of keypad smudges, the method does not prevent other types of unauthorized entries such as an unauthorized third-party unobtrusively viewing a user's entry of their keypad code over their shoulder or from a distance, enabling the unauthorized party to obtain the keypad code via visual confirmation rather than relying upon the keypad smudges upon the electronic device.
Other types of mobile device keypad access processes also utilize the entry of a finger sliding across a sequence of points within an orientation of points on the display screen of the mobile device in a predetermined pattern and do not require a sequential entry of the points but a movement of the finger between the points in a designated pattern. This type of keypad entry passcode does not lend itself to the randomization of the components as a particular pattern on the dots is being reviewed for accuracy rather than a particular entry sequence of components. Thus, some manner for overcoming the shortcomings of the existing passcode entry problems would be beneficial to the improvement of security features within a mobile device.